title: Chronic work stress and exhaustion is associated with higher allostastic load in female school teachers.
abstract: Epidemiological studies have shown that chronic work stress or unfavourable psychosocial work conditions are prospectively associated with different adverse health outcomes. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between work-related chronic stress as well as exhaustion and a cumulative measure of physiological wear-and-tear called allostastic load (AL). AL could be a possible biological pathway for how chronic work stress and exhaustion lead to health impairments in the long run. As the teaching profession has been proposed to be a potentially high stressful occupation, chronic work stress (effort-reward-imbalance) and exhaustion were assessed in 104 female school teachers. AL was first analyzed according to McEwen's classical model comprised of ten parameters including cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEA-S), waist/hip-ratio (WHR), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), total cholesterol/HDL-ratio, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Additionally it was extended to include tumor-necrosis-factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, D-dimer, percent-body-fat, triglycerides, and glucose levels. A substantial proportion of our sample was highly exhausted whereas relatively few teachers showed high effort-reward-imbalance. AL scores were significantly higher in women high on effort-reward-imbalance or suffering from exhaustion. Although all teachers had been in a good health status, chronic work stress as well as exhaustion appears to be associated with changes in a multi-system summary indicator of physiological risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theoretical and Clinical Psychobiology, Graduate School of Psychobiology, University of Trier, D-54290 Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Silja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bellingrath
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weigl
authors.forename: Brigitte M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kudielka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D052636:Allostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000503:physiopathology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005178:Faculty; D005221:Fatigue / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000378:metabolism; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000378:metabolism; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000652:urine; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; D005340:Fibrinogen; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006854:Hydrocortisone; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D009638:Norepinephrine; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C036309:fibrin fragment D